idea for gsoc

[Frank Reininghaus]

Hi,

first of all, thanks for your interest in making Dolphin better! Also
thanks to Todd for providing some good comments about the idea.

2014-03-18 13:36 GMT+01:00 Todd <toddrjen at gmail.com>:
>
> On Mar 17, 2014 11:32 PM, "Pramiti Goel" <pramitigoel20 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> For example: initially a list of video files within a folder. After
>> viewing some of them, user wishes to divide them according to
>> seen/important/tobe reviwed so that he can later see the videos which are
>> left or review them.
>>
>> I have attached a template [2] where User can divide them into multiple
>> section as per his need and name them.
>> For example: here files are divided into 3 sections: Seen , To be reviewed
>> and Important within the same folder..
>>
>> There is another way to solve to this problem ( As is a feature in ALL
>> FILES in MAC OS ).Where as described above the files of the folders( in this
>> case: Seen, Not Seen, To be reviewed)within a particular folder(Videos) can
>> be viewed Row wise/ Column wise in that single window.But I think that would
>> be difficult to accommodate in case of large number of folders.(attached
>> template for this was too big too send)
>>
>> This will also helps us :
>>
>> 1) It is easier to compare files when working on a project: files seen,
>> important or to be reviewed.Each sections will have a name, so even if we
>> visit folder after a long time, we can proceed from where we left.
>>
>> 2) Also it is easy to move a file from one section to other. You are
>> changing the file section rather than moving from one folder to other. It
>> also saves us from creating large number of folders within folders. Thus,
>> managing folders become easy within a project.
>>
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Mar 18, 2014 at 3:40 AM, Pramiti Goel <pramitigoel20 at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>>
>>> I wish to propose a method to simplify the process of working on multiple
>>> files by
>>> minimizing the use of creating multiple folders only for the purpose of
>>> categorization (explained below) so that all the files can be viewed in one
>>> single folder but
>>> categorized as per need.
>>>
>>> I wish to propose a NEW File manager "VIEW" in Dolphin(like list/grid)
>>> Several times, while working on multiple documents or files or folders
>>> simultaneously for
>>> a) Projects
>>> b) While studying
>>> c) Doing analysis from multiple files simultaneously
>>> d) Bug and making patch for particular section of code
>>>
>>> We categorize/arrange these files as per our need according to their
>>> a) priority of work
>>> b) quality of contents of files
>>> c) work done , work pending or work completed
>>> d) in music folders, as per our liking
>>> e) division on bases of old/new files in different panes rather than list
>>> view
>>>
>>> by creating multiple folders & giving these folders the names of the
>>> categories.
>>> Several times to we wish to analyze our work or see all the available
>>> files
>>> simultaneously (for eg. While studying).
>>>
>>> For this we have to open multiple folders one by one or all folders
>>> parallely on one
>>> screen which is tedious, time consuming and less efficient. Many times we
>>> create
>>> multiple copies of a single file ( if that file is needed in every
>>> category folders)
>>> leading to redundancy and memory wastage. It increases tree level
>>> hierarchy i.e.
>>> folder within folder.
>>>
>>> To solve these problems and simplify the process of viewing multiple
>>> related files
>>> simultaneously I wish to add a NEW FILE MANAGER VIEW.
>>> In this view, the user can divide his working directory into multiple
>>> sections (which
>>> was earlier done by creating folders and naming them as per the category)
>>> as per
>>> his need & name them accordingly.
>>>
>>> These sections can be represented in a single window by demarcating
>>> different
>>> areas to each category.
>>> By default the files can be allotted to a default category (for ex. "All
>>> files"). The user can then simply drag the files into the region of the
>>> desired category to allot a particular category.
>>> The category can be changed as per need by dragging it into the area of
>>> another
>>> category.
>>> User can create 4 to 5 sections within a single windowpane and name them.
>>> This
>>> name can be descriptive.
>>> This view will remain same whenever the user revisits the view for this
>>> folder giving an advantage over creating/opening multiple folders & helping
>>> to review all the files at one go.
>>>
>>> MAC OS provides coloured tags to give users an option to separate files
>>> as per
>>> category. That also doesn't solve the problem of viewing all files at
>>> once.
>>
>>
>
> I can't comment in the appropriateness or desirability of such a feature,
> but I do have some suggestions:

I think that one might to discuss the appropriateness and desirability
of the feature(s) with the usability team, but after taking into
account what features are available already, and maybe also
considering what technologies would be used to implement anything new
on top of that.

> 1. This seems to conflate multiple, largely independent features,
> specifically:
>
> A. The ability to create named virtual folders, probably pointing to
> something like a tag, and being able to add files and folders to this
> virtual folder by drag-and-drop.  This is similar to Windows libraries. This
> is probably best handled by baloo.

Yes, indeed. In particular the "Seen, Not Seen, To be reviewed"
example looks a lot like this could be solved with tags.

> B. An extension of the existing categorized view that allows users to move
> files and folders to other carriers via drag-and-drop. This capability, of
> course, would only apply to categories where it makes sense (which would
> include the groups from A, but possibly other things like tags as well).
>
> C. The ability to sort and categorize files and folders by their inclusion
> in the groups from A.

This is possible already, isn't it? One can sort the files in a folder
by their tags and enable "Show in Groups". Assigning tags by dragging
and dropping files inside the view is not possible though.

> D. A new categorized view.
>
> 2. You don't demonstrate that you have done much research or have much
> knowledge regarding which KDE frameworks you would or could leverage to
> implement your proposal, not to mention provide a detailed explanation of
> how you intend to implement it.  I think it is important to not only know
> what you want to do, but also be able to explain, at least in a general
> sense, how you plan to do it.
>
> 3. Because you are really proposing multiple, largely independent tasks, I
> think it would be beneficial to make clear what benefits would be left if
> you only finished some of your proposed tasks.

I agree with 2.+3.

Thanks,
Frank